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Imperfect information, wage formation, and the employability of the unemployed

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Author Info
Eriksson, Stefan () (IFAU - Insitute for Labour Market Policy Evaluation)

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Abstract

This paper considers the optimal hiring strategy of a firm that is unable to observe the productive abilities of all its applicants. Whom the firm considers as hireable, will depend crucially on the extent to which the firm can use its wage setting to mirror productivity differences. However, when setting its wages the firm has to consider other factors as well, e.g. turnover, that may make it optimal not to set wages that fully reflect productivity differences. Instead, it may be optimal to avoid hiring workers that have certain characteristics; i.e. to use a discriminatory hiring strategy. In the paper it is shown that discrimination based on employment status is an equilibrium hiring strategy even when the firm is free to set different wages for workers with different expected productivities. It is also shown that if all firms use such hiring procedures this will have strong implications for the aggregate economy and welfare.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by IFAU - Institute for Labour Market Policy Evaluation in its series Working Paper Series with number 2002:17.

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Length: 41 pages
Date of creation: 28 Oct 2002
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:hhs:ifauwp:2002_017

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Related research
Keywords: Hiring; imperfect information; discrimination; employed job seekers; efficiency wages; turnover; unemployment; welfare; policy;

Other versions of this item:

Find related papers by JEL classification:
E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomics: Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution
J64 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, and Vacancies - - - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search
J71 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination - - - Hiring and Firing

This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Pissarides, C. & Wadsworth, J., 1988. "On-The-Job Search: Some Empirical Evidence," Papers 317, London School of Economics - Centre for Labour Economics.
  2. Sattinger, Michael, 1998. "Statistical Discrimination with Employment Criteria," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 39(1), pages 205-37, February.
    Other versions:
  3. Agell, Jonas & Lundborg, Per, 1999. "Survey Evidence on Wage Rigidity and Unemployment: Sweden in the 1990s," Working Paper Series 1999:12, Uppsala University, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  4. Agell, J. & Lundborg, P., 1999. "Survey Evidence on Wage Rigidity and Unemployment: Sweden in the 1990s," Papers 1999:12, Uppsala - Working Paper Series.
  5. Barron, John M & Berger, Mark C & Black, Dan A, 1997. "Employer Search, Training, and Vacancy Duration," Economic Inquiry, Oxford University Press, vol. 35(1), pages 167-92, January.
  6. Eriksson, Stefan, 2001. "Skill loss, ranking of job applicants, and the dynamics of unemployment," Working Paper Series 2001:4, IFAU - Institute for Labour Market Policy Evaluation. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  7. Boeri, Tito, 1998. "Enforcement of Employment Security Regulations, On-The-Job Search and Unemployment Duration," CEPR Discussion Papers 1850, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  8. Gibbons, Robert & Katz, Lawrence F, 1991. "Layoffs and Lemons," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 9(4), pages 351-80, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  9. Eriksson, S. & Gottfries, N., 2000. "Ranking of Job Applicants, On-the-Job Search and Persistent Unemployment," Papers 2000:3, Uppsala - Working Paper Series.
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  10. Blau, David M & Robins, Philip K, 1990. "Job Search Outcomes for the Employed and Unemployed," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 98(3), pages 637-55, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. Fredriksson, Peter & Holmlund, Bertil, 2001. "Optimal Unemployment Insurance in Search Equilibrium," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 19(2), pages 370-99, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  12. Agell, Jonas & Lundborg, Per, 1999. "Survey evidence on wage rigidity and unemployment: Sweden in the 1990s," Working Paper Series 1999:2, IFAU - Institute for Labour Market Policy Evaluation. [Downloadable!]
  13. Jonas Agell & Per Lundborg, . "Survey evidence on wage rigidity and unemployment: Sweden in the 1990s," EPRU Working Paper Series 99-15, Economic Policy Research Unit (EPRU), University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  14. Dickens, William T, et al, 1989. "Employee Crime and the Monitoring Puzzle," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 7(3), pages 331-47, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  15. Kugler, Adriana D. & Saint-Paul, Gilles, 2000. "Hiring And Firing Costs, Adverse Selection And The Persistence Of Unemployment," CEPR Discussion Papers 2410, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  16. Barron, John M & Bishop, John, 1985. "Extensive Search, Intensive Search, and Hiring Costs: New Evidence on Employer Hiring Activity," Economic Inquiry, Oxford University Press, vol. 23(3), pages 363-82, July.
  17. Gottfries, Nils & Sjostrom, Tomas, 2000. " Insider Bargaining Power, Starting Wages and Involuntary Unemployment," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 102(4), pages 669-88, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  18. MacLeod, W Bentley & Malcomson, James M, 1989. "Implicit Contracts, Incentive Compatibility, and Involuntary Unemployment," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 57(2), pages 447-80, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  19. George A. Akerlof & Andrew K. Rose & Janet L. Yellen, 1988. "Job Switching and Job Satisfaction in the U.S. Labor Market," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 19(1988-2), pages 495-594. [Downloadable!]
Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Anders Forslund & Nils Gottfries & Andreas Westermark, 2006. "Real and Nominal Wage Adjustment in Open Economies," CESifo Working Paper Series CESifo Working Paper No. , CESifo Group Munich. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. Boone, Jan & Fredriksson, Peter & Holmlund, Bertil & van Ours, Jan, 2002. "Optimal unemployment insurance with monitoring and sanctions," Working Paper Series 2002:21, IFAU - Institute for Labour Market Policy Evaluation. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. Eriksson, Stefan & Lagerström, Jonas, 2004. "Competition between employed and unemployed job applicants: Swedish evidence," Working Paper Series 2004:2, IFAU - Institute for Labour Market Policy Evaluation. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
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